For a long time, the idea of the ghoul preoccupied the lives of
many people from different cultures and religions. Though the ghoul has
origins as old as the Mesopotamian civilization, Arabs were largely
responsible for popularizing it. Because Islam incorporated this being
in its doctrine, the ghoul remained a source of fear and mystery in the
Arab culture.

Peter M. Holt and Ann Katherine argue in The Cambridge History of
Islam that Islam came about as a 'revolt' and as a
'protest against' the old Arabs' beliefs, but that it
could not change all their existing convictions. Instead, it
'integrated' some old practices like the yearly pilgrimage to
Mecca (1997, 17). This study argues that Islam could not change the
belief in supernatural beings such as genies and ghouls, because they
were an integral part of Arab culture. This essay sheds light on the
Arabic origins of the Arabian Nights and suggests possible written
sources for some tales as a complement to existing arguments that
certain tales were orally transmitted and later written down. In
relation to the ghoul, the paper also discusses the fact that some
Arabian Nights tales contain Islamic elements and motifs, and feature
plots that are clearly similar to older written accounts found in
various Arabic books. This work traces its evolution from the past to
modern times in an attempt to give an overall understanding of the
ghoul, and an idea of how and why its concept changed from one culture
to another.

The earliest records of Arabs document their activities in
Mesopotamia, providing evidence that the nomads of Arabia were always in
direct contact with the more "advanced" people of Mesopotamia,
mainly for the purpose of trade. This contact produced cultural exchange
between the two peoples, mostly in terms of life style and borrowed
words. In ancient Mesopotamia, there was a monster called
'Gallu' that could be regarded as one of the origins of the
Arabic ghoul. (1) Gallu was an Akkadian demon of the underworld
'responsible for the abduction of the vegetationgod Damuzi (Tammuz)
to the realm of death' (Lindemans). Since Akkad and Sumer were very
close to the Arabian deserts, Arab Bedouins in contact with Mesopotamian
cultures could have borrowed the belief in the ghoul from the Akkadians.

Before discussing different ideas of the ghoul, however, I will
examine the ghoul's general depiction in a pre-Islamic context to
show that the Arabic ghoul is older than the religion of Islam. In some
old Arabic works written before Islam, ghouls were regarded as devilish
creatures. al-Mas'udi (c. 896- c. 957) referred in Muruj al-Dhahab
to the older books written by Ibn 'Ishqq and Wahb Ibn al-Munabbih,
who tackled the old Bedouins' myth of creation. Arabs before Islam
believed that when God created genies from the gusts of fire, He made
from this type of fire their female part, but one of their eggs was
split in two. Hence, the Qutrub, (2) which looked like a cat, was
created. As for the devils, they came from another egg and settled in
the seas. Other evil creatures, such as the Marid, (3) inhabited the
islands; the ghoul resided in the wilderness; the si'lwah dwelt in
lavatories and waste areas; and the hamah4 lived in the air in the form
of a flying snake (1986, 171).

al-Qazwini (c.1208-c.1283) mentioned a different description taken
from an old Arabic source, which says that when the devils wanted to
eavesdrop on Heaven, God threw meteors at them, (5) whereupon some were
burnt, fell into the sea and later turned into crocodiles, while others
dropped onto the ground and changed into ghouls (1980, 236). Such
descriptions cannot be found in Islamic texts. For instance, Abu
'Uthman al-Jahiz (c. 775- c. 868), who compiled many popular
beliefs in his book al-Haywan (The Animal), wrote that commoners thought
that the devil's eyes were upright as in images taken from the
Bedouins (1969, 214), whose ideas lived on for almost two thousand
years.

As for popular tales, several stories dealing with the ghoul
circulated before Islam. For instance, 'Umar Bin al-Khattab (c.
586-644), the second Muslim Caliph, was known as the man who killed a
ghoul in the desert when he was traveling to Syria. After stopping him,
the female monster asked the man: 'Bin al-Khattab, where are you
heading?' The Caliph answered: 'This is not your
concern,' and the ghoul turned its head completely around in order
to frighten him (Ibn Manzur vol. xxvii, 269-70). Knowing the evil
intentions of the monster, Bin al-Khattab raised his sword and killed it
by striking it between its shoulder and neck. When he returned to the
same place after few hours, however, he could not find the ghoul there
(Ibid.).

In addition, Abu Asid al-Sa'di mentioned the story of Arqam
Bin Abu al-Arqam in which a ghoul appeared and kidnapped
al-Arqam's, son who was on a desert journey. The ghoul, disguised
in the form of a woman, carried the boy on its back. When they saw
al-Arqam's friend, the woman pretended to be the boy's
attendant (al-Waqidl 1984, 104). This story emphasizes the well-known
deceitful and wicked character of the ghoul. In folktales, motif
(G443.2) 'Ogre abducts woman's children...' (El-Shamy
1995, 149) is similar to the account given above. In general, the
Pre-Islamic ghoul is known as a devilish female creature that intends to
inflict harm on travelers and is able to change its form. In most cases,
the ghoul is defeated by striking it with a sword. (6) The following
section discusses how the ghoul has been associated with Islamic
practices.

The Islamic Ghoul

When Islam firstly spread in the Arabian Peninsula in the seventh
century, it succeeded in changing many old customs, such as ending the
habit of burying recently born baby girls and preventing women from
marrying more than one man at a time. It could not, however, change
other ideas such as the belief in the ghoul or the si'lwah
(si'lah). (7) Prophet Muhammed mentioned the ghoul in several of
his sayings, but later Muslim scholars had conflicting views about the
authenticity of these sayings, as some negated the ghoul's
existence and others confirmed it. Despite the rational voices that
rejected the existence of this monster, many Arabs (especially Bedouins)
narrated tales and recited poetry that featured or mentioned the ghoul.
Since this creature originated in the desert, it was particularly
popular there from the pre-Islamic period until present time. However,
the legend spread to the Arabs' urban areas and became part of the
culture there, which suggests that the Bedouins' beliefs were very
influential, and in some cases formed the very fabric of the Arab
society. As mentioned earlier, Holt and Katherine's argument that
Islam could not change all the old beliefs of Arabia is valid in the
case of belief in the ghoul.

Prophet Muhammed himself was said, in many instances, to comment on
or confirm the existence of ghouls. For example, Isma'il bin
'Umar Abu al-Fida' (?- c. 1372) mentioned in Tafsir Ibn Kathir
that ghouls were the 'demons of genies', and cited the
following famous incident: When the Prophet met his companion Abu Dharr
in a mosque, the Prophet advised Abu Dharr to pray in order to be saved
from the mischief of the devils of humans and genies. Abu Dharr was
surprised to hear the Prophet confirmed the existence of creatures such
as these, which the Prophet identified as ghouls (1980, 306-8).

In another anecdote, Abu Ayub al-Ansari asked the Prophet's
advice because some ghouls used to eat from his dates store at night.
The Prophet told him to say the following: 'In the Name of God,
answer the Prophet of God'. al-Ansari followed the advice and the
ghouls promised not to return. The next day, the Prophet informed the
man that the ghouls might come back because they lied. His prediction
was accurate. The Prophet then advised al-Ansari to recite the
'Ayat al-Kursl' (Throne verse) from the Holy Quran, which
proved to be useful in getting rid of the ghouls (Abu al-Fida'
1980, 306-8; al-Tirmidhl n.d., 158; al-Kufi 1988, 94; al-'Asqalani
1959, 159; al-Naysaburl n.d., 519). Abu Asid al-Sa'di, another of
Prophet Muhammed's companions, had a similar experience
(al-'Asqalani 1959, 489) though in this version the ghouls
themselves gave advice on how to rid humans of their harm.

To sum up, according to the Prophet Muhammed, ghouls are the demons
or enchantresses of genies that hurt human beings by eating or spoiling
their food or by frightening travelers when they are in the wilderness.
In order to avoid their harm, one can recite a verse from the Holy Quran
or call for prayer since they hate any reference to God.

Other Muslim scholars like Abl al-Sheikh al-Asbahani (c.887-c.979)
described the ghoul or si'lwah as a kind of a female demon that was
able to change its shape and appear to travelers in the wilderness to
delude and harm them. He narrated the story of Ahmed al-Dabbagh's
father, who went once on a trip and took a risky road that was known to
be frequented by ghouls. After walking for few hours, Ahmed
al-Dabbagh's father saw a woman wearing a ragged dress lying on a
bed above hung lanterns used to illuminate the place. When she saw him
approaching, the woman started calling on the man to attract him;
however, he realized that she was a ghoul, so he recited the Surat Yasm
from the Holy Quran. As a result, the woman put out her lantern lights
and said: 'Oh man, what did you do to me?' Hence, he was saved
from her harm (1987, vol. v, 1652) (Motif F491.10) en-Naddahah 'the
she-Caller' was described as a 'female spirit who calls people
by name and then leads them astray') (El-Shamy 1995, 130). (8)

Though the sayings attributed to Prophet Muhammed seem to
contradict one another, (15) many Muslim scholars believe that ghouls
used to exist before Islam. For instance, Abu Asid al-Sa'di (cited
above) commented after narrating a story involving a ghoul that
'ghouls lived at that time [before and at the beginning of Islam],
but they perished later' (al-Waqidi 1984, 104). Yusuf al anafi
shared the same view, stating that 'God could have created this
creature, but later He removed its harm from human beings' (n.d.,
268). According to the writings of these scholars, the Prophet Muhammed
states ghouls no longer exist because God has rid humans of their
mischief.

In brief, Islam tried to direct the people's way of thinking
to the one omnipresent God as the creator and mover of all things and
did not acknowledge that there were other forces involved in controlling
the universe. Conflicting views about the existence of ghouls, however,
imply that Muslim scholars were still struggling to balance the
widespread popular beliefs taken from Jahiliyya era (before Islam) with
the new ideas of the Islamic doctrine. In order to understand the
further influence of the ghoul on the Arab culture, this essay will
analyze the popular beliefs expressed in different books written after
the emergence of Islam.

Arabic Culture

Medieval Arabic culture is mainly reflected in literary works,
especially poetry. However, there were other outlets by which writers
expressed their views of their culture such as books of history,
science, and philosophy. For instance, the Arab encyclopedic writer
al-Jahiz wrote about the types of animals and other creatures in
al-Haywan. He said the ghoul was believed to attract travelers by
setting fire at night; subsequently, the travelers would lose their
direction. (Motif G0412.3 'Ogre's (ogress's) fire lures
person) (El-Shamy 2004, 1073). al Jahiz elaborated by saying that people
viewed the ghoul as a type of genie, and the si'lwah was the female
genie if she did not change (tataghawal) or become a ghoul by deluding
travelers. If a genie changed its shape and harassed travelers, it would
become a she-devil or ghoul (1969, 195). In fact, al-Jahiz confirmed the
continuous belief in the ghoul and added a strange conviction popular
among Arabs: the si'lwah would die only by one mighty blow from the
sword because if two strikes were directed to it, it would not expire
until one thousand blows follow (1969, 233 and 235). On the other hand,
Yusuf Ibn 'Abdulbar al-Qurtubi (c.978- c.1071) considered the
abovementioned view one of the Arab Bedouins' legends, and the
author harshly criticized al-Jahiz for citing such a popular belief and
accused him of being 'foolish' (1982, 177). Nevertheless, this
belief was widespread. The best example is probably the Arabian Nights,
which contains many other popular convictions dating back to the
medieval times (Perho 2004; Shosha 2004). Also, Silvestre de Sacy
stresses that there are Islamic elements in the composition of the
Arabian Nights (Sadan 2004, 44). When Antoine Galland (1646-1715) first
translated the Arabian Nights into a European language, he mentioned in
the preface that the stories 'must be pleasing, because of the
account they give of the Customs and Manners of the Eastern
Nations' (1718, 'Preface'). Furthermore, Lady Mary
Wortley Montagu (1689-1762) compared the strange scenes and items found
in Turkey with what she read in the 'Arabian Tales'. Montagu
reminded her sister by saying: 'You forget... those very tales were
written by an author of this country, and (excepting the enchantments)
are a real representation of the manners here' (1992, 157). Despite
the fact that the Arabian Nights was only a fictitious work, Galland and
Montagu considered it an accurate representation of the Arabic and
Islamic culture instead of viewing it as a receptacle of some popular
old beliefs.

Indeed, The Arabian Nights abounds with references to the ghoul and
some of the ideas cited above. For instance, in Richard Burton's
translation of the 'Story of Prince Sayf Al-Muluk and the Princess
Badi'a Al-Jamal' in The Thousand Nights and a Night, a man and
his fellows were taken by a ghoul to its cave, but they managed to blind
its eyes with hot rod and smite it with 'the sword a single stroke
across his waist'. The ghoul cried out: 'O man, an thou desire
to slay me, strike me a second stroke'. As this man was about to
hit it again, his fellowman said: 'Smite him not a second time, for
then he will not die, but will live and destroy us' (1886-8, vol.
7, 361). This tale corresponds with al-Jahiz's account of how to
kill a ghoul by striking it once; apparently such a belief had not faded
away from Arabic culture despite the fact that many centuries elapsed
between al-Jahiz's time and that of the Arabian Nights composition.
Muhsin Mahdi confirms that certain storytellers of the Arabian Nights
transformed some anecdotes found in the books of history into fiction.
For instance, al-Mas'udi recorded an account similar to the tale of
'The Hunchback and the King of China' in the Arabian Nights
(1995, 165-6). The following tale further suggests the link between
factual written accounts and fictional tales.

In a story cited by al-Asbahani and narrated by Zaid Bin
A'slam, two men from Ashjja' tribe wanted to provide a bride
with her wedding outfits, so they went on a trip to an area where they
saw a lonely woman. Upon seeing them, the woman said: 'What is your
need?'; the men replied, 'We want to provide a bride with her
needs'. The woman said she could assist in this business if the two
men promised to come back to her.

So they made their promise. When they finished their business, the
two men returned to the lady. She said: 'I will follow you in your
journey'. They made her ride on one of their camels until they
reached a sand mound where the woman stopped and said: 'I have some
business here', suggesting that she wanted to relieve herself.
Unexpectedly, the woman remained behind the mound for an hour; thus, one
of the two men went to check, yet he was delayed, too. When the other
man climbed the mound and looked, he was shocked to see that the woman
was lying on the man's belly and eating his liver. As a result, the
man ran as fast as possible to escape from this woman, but she glimpsed
him and followed his trace. After stopping him, she said: 'What is
wrong with you?'; he replied: 'There is an iniquitous devil
among us'. Despite the harm she inflicted on the other man, the
woman gave advice on how to avoid her mischief by supplicating and
mentioning God. The moment the man did what he was advised, a fire fell
from the sky and ripped the woman in two, so he thanked God for killing
the si'lwah (1987, vol. v, 1671-2). This tale is somehow similar to
the tales of the 'King's Son and the Ogress' and
'The Tale of the King's Son & the She-Ghoul' (Haddawy
1992, 4255) in the Arabian Nights, which further suggests that some
tales in the Arabian Nights are more or less derived from written texts.
The idea that ghouls could be driven away by reciting verses from the
Holy Quran persisted for a long time because it was recommended by the
Prophet himself, as previously explained. In fact, such an idea is
borrowed from Abu Asid al-Sa'di's account and other anecdotes
involving the Prophet. For instance, Gharib, the character in Richard
Burton's translation of the story of 'The History of Gharib
and His Brother Ajib' in The Thousand Nights and a Night, was
caught by a ghoul. He started crying God's name and supplicating.
As a result, Gharib was able to release himself from the ghoul's
grip and finally killed it (1886-8, vol. vi, 257-295). The motifs in
this tale are similar to those in the one narrated by Ahmed
al-Dabbagh's father cited above, which gives an idea of the
possible source of this Arabian Nights tale. In general, the moral of
such tales is to show God's supremacy, which is far beyond the
power of this naive monster. In addition, there is a recurrent notion
that ghouls show up along desolate roads asking for help. They usually
ask for a ride on a camel or horse with other passengers until they
reach a proper place to stop and carry out their hideous plans.

Another popular aspect of the ghoul is the belief that it can
change its shape; for instance, Antoine Galland translated a tale from
the Arabian Nights entitled 'The Story of the Vizier that was
Punished' (1798, 77-79), in which an ogre, the Western equivalent
of the si'lwah, explains: 'The Lady was a Hogres, wife to one
of those Savage Demons, called Hogres, who stay in remote places, and
make use of a thousand wiles to surprise and devour passengers...'
(1798, 78). The portrayal of the ogre in this story is the typical
Arabic cultural concept of the ghoul that changes its shape and usually
becomes an attractive woman in order to kill human beings. Again,
al-Jahiz referred to this trait in the ghoul in his book al-Haywan, as
mentioned earlier.

Other fallacies about the ghoul include the belief that it has
'cloven feet similar to that of a goat', according to
al-Mas'udi (1986, 170) or closer to that of an 'ass'
(al-Manawi 1945, 318). There was also the cultural practice of hanging a
paw of a rabbit around one's neck for the protection from the
offenses of genies and the evil fires of the si'lwah (al-Isfahani
2004, 316-7). Furthermore, Arabs believed that ghouls resided in
islands, for instance, al-A'dnsi (c.1100 c.1166) mentioned that
there was an island called 'the si'ali' (she-ghouls)
where certain creatures that looked like women lived, having long fangs
and bright eyes like lightening. There was no difference between the
males and females except for their genitals and their dress, which was
made of tree leaves (1866, 53). Furthermore, Ibn Sa'id al-Maghribi
(c.1213--c.1286) said that there were almost 100 small islands called
'the ghoul' wherein black naked people lived and spoke an
indistinct language (1970, 130). In the Arabian Nights, many references
to the ghoul correspond with the above description. For instance, Lane
and Burton narrated the 'Story of Fourth Voyage of the Es-Sindibad
of the Sea' (Lane 1865, 35-49; Burton 1886-8, vol. vi, 34-48) in
which Sindibad traveled from Basrah and saw many islands, but nearly
drowned when he was shipwrecked. Sindibad managed to swim with some of
his comrades to an island by using a plank from the ship. On the shore,
they saw a high building and walked toward it. Standing near the gate, a
group of naked savage men ran toward them and took them all to the King.
Those naked men were the 'Magian people' and their king was a
'Ghul' (1886-8, 36). Whoever came to their island were
required to eat a certain kind of food, but unlike his fellows, whose
minds were 'stupefied' and 'state became changed,'
Sindibad could not eat. Then Sindibad's fellows were given
cocoa-nut oil until they became very fat and stupid after which they
were roasted and presented to the King. However, Sindibad succeeded in
escaping especially after learning that the Magians eat raw human flesh.

Finally, the ghoul was thought to have magical powers by possessing
human bodies. Some Western travelers to Arabia in the nineteenth century
documented such a popular conviction; (16) for example, in Personal
Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah and Meccah (1893), Sir Richard
Burton pointed out that Arab Bedouins followed traditional medical
practices based on superstitions because they interpreted rabies as:
'a bit of meat [that] falls from the sky, and that a dog eating it
becomes mad'. If a man was bitten by such a dog, his fellows must
'shut him up with food, in a solitary chamber, for four days';
however, if he continued barking like a dog, they would 'expel the
Ghul (demon) from him, by pouring over him boiling water mixed with
ashes' (1893, 389). In other words, the Bedouins believed that the
ghoul could possess a man's body and make him mad. Until this day,
many Arabs believe that genies can take over a man's body if he
does not practice his religion in a proper way; hence, violent means are
used by the cleric to exorcize the evil spirit. In her study of popular
Islam (unorthodox religious practices), Gerda Sengers mentions the zar
as an exorcising ritual well known in Egypt in modern times. The jinn
(genies) and Asyad (demons) are believed to be responsible for
'clothing' (possessing) ones body, and the main method of
driving these supernatural beings away from the body is by reciting
certain verses from the Holy Quran (2003, 23-4). On the other hand, in
Burton's account, Arab Bedouins think of the ghouls as a kind of
genie that possesses one's body instead of being an animal-like
creature, denoting that this monster has retained its old ethereal
character mentioned in Islamic texts.

Apart from the abovementioned tales, many comparisons were made in
Arabic poetry between ghouls and human beings in order to describe an
ugly woman, a forceful man, or an evil trait. For instance, 'Asim
Bin Kharwa'ah al-Nahshali disparaged his wife saying:

She is the ghoul and the devil put together...,

Whoever accompanies the ghoul and the devil is depressed,

Even genies seek God's protection upon seeing her. (Hashim
2001, 813)

The ghoul was used in many Arab proverbs to denote different
meanings; for instance, it referred to a repulsive human being with a
horrible looking face: 'Uglier than a monkey, uglier than a pig,
uglier than a ghoul' (al-Naysaburi, 129) or 'uglier than the
devil', which referred sometimes to the ghoul's repulsiveness
(al-Jawzi 1983, 63). al-Qazwini pointed out that Arabs stressed the
ghoul's ugly features. However, even if they did not see a ghoul,
mentioning its name in poetry and tales brought fear to listeners (1980,
387).

In brief, the Arabs understood the ghoul to be an ugly female demon
that intends to harm travelers and even to kill them in some cases. It
has the ability to change its form and become a beautiful woman to
attract men or even to mate with them. The ghoul's description is
close to that of a predatory animal that has fangs and cloven feet, and
combines features of the snake, goat, and ass.

Since Islam clearly dictated that its followers use their rational
judgments in assessing matters, there were many Arab writers,
particularly those belonging to al-Mu'tazilah (Recluses) school,
who negated the very existence of the ghoul because they relied on
reason in analyzing different cultural and religious issues. For
instance, al-Jahiz, who was one of the al-Mu'tazilah members,
offered a logical explanation for the myth of the ghoul. He said that if
a man sought solitude in the desert, he would be confused, distracted,
unfocused, and would start seeing the small thing as huge. He might also
perceive the invisible, hear the inaudible, and view minute matter as
utterly magnificent and big (1969, 150). In other words, the desert heat
and fear caused by darkness and loneliness could make any man
hallucinate and see illusions. A young person, for instance, who grew up
with ghoulish stories that were part of his culture, might go alone to
the wilderness at the dead of night and become delusional at the sound
of the first owl cries and voice echoes. Sir Richard Burton's
interpretation of the ghoul fell along similar lines. In his translation
of the 'Story of Fourth voyage of the Es Sindibad of the Sea'
(1886-8, vol. vi, 34-48) in The Thousand Nights and a Night, Burton
explained the word 'Ghul' as 'an ogre, a cannibal'
and said: 'I cannot but regard the "Ghul of the waste" as
an embodiment of the natural fear and horror which a man feels when he
faces a really dangerous desert' (1886-8, 36). Finally, Hasan
El-Shamy suggests that one's 'life space' contains an
amalgam of 'real' and 'imaginary' worlds. 'If a
child is told that wolves swallow "kids" whole and live in old
tombs, then as association is established between wolves and these acts
and objects; for the child, this is what wolves "really"
do' (1999, 7).

al-Jahiz further elaborates by saying that after remembering the
hallucination, a man would possibly write poetry or narrate tales about
seeing this monster, thus making other people believe in its reality
more than before. If that man was a natural liar and habitually
exaggerated and overstated matters, he would claim to have seen the
ghoul or talked to the si'lwah (1969, 150). Others might pretend
that they killed the si'lwah or accompanied it or even married it.
al-Jahiz stressed that some of those liars would be tempted to continue
misleading others if they encountered naive commoners who did not
question or doubt such tales and who could not distinguish between
reality and fantasy (1969, 151). Carl von Sydow classifies such accounts
as memorates because they deal with a belief in superstition like
stories of ghosts (Green 1997, 92-3), and El-Shamy mentions similar
motifs (A2909) 'Origin of jinn [genie]: generated by hallucination
caused by sensory deprivation' and motif (F1043.1')
'Hallucinatory experiences from sensory deprivation' (1995, 58
& 143). In brief, the accounts mentioned above suggest that human
beings imagine fearful creatures such as genies and ghouls because of
the old fanciful stories they have heard. These supernatural creatures
will become more real and will 'materialize' when people with
feeble minds are frightened or in a state of exhaustion.

Furthermore, the Arab philosopher Abu al-'Ala'
al-Ma'arri (c.973-c.1057) stated in Risalat al-Ghufrran that some
Arabs 'lied about the ghoul' (1988, 244); he stressed that
'whatever was contrary to reason must be a myth' (1988, 223)
such as the story Ta'abbatah Sharran. Another Arab writer who
objected to the popular beliefs in ghoul was al-Jawzi (c.1116-1196). In
his book al-A'dhkya' (The Bright Ones) al-Jawzi tells the
story of a brave and strong man called al-A'drra' in the city
of Kufah. al-A'drra' heard once that there was a ghoul near
one of the remains on the outskirts of the city and decided to
investigate the matter because he believed that 'the devil and the
ghoul were only illusions'. After riding on his horse at night, he
suddenly saw a fiery creature decreasing and increasing in its size. As
the horse panicked, the man was forced to walk, and he followed the
trace of fire to a cellar located under the remains. The man felt his
way along the narrow corridors because it was very dark, and when he
reached its end, he caught a person. Astonished, al-A'drra'
found out that the fiery shape was only a black woman, so he swore to
kill her if she would not speak the truth. Instead, the woman asked a
question: 'Are you a genie or a human being? I have never seen
anyone else braver than you!' The man discovered that the lady was
a slave serving a family in Kufah who ran away and stayed in the
remains. In order to survive, the woman had the idea of terrifying
travelers by using a stick, a candle, and a piece of cloth. She used to
hold the candle in one hand and the stick in another and place the piece
of cloth over the stick. By moving them all, she managed to create an
illusion of a glittering indistinct creature. Then she would do the same
without the stick to fool the people by showing that the creature
changed its size. For two decades the woman was able to use this same
trick to frighten travelers, who would throw their luggage and run away.
After learning her story, the man took the woman to her owners, and
travelers were no more harmed by the alleged ghoul (2001, 107).

Finally, 'Abdul Qadir al-Baghdadi (c.1620-c.1682) cited the
Arab poet Kamil, who wrote: 'After viewing the fellows of my age, I
found no true friend who could stand by you at times of need/ I have
known then that the impossible matters are three: the ghoul, the
phoenix, and a faithful friend' (1979, 136). These lines of poetry
have become proverbial in Arabic language, which suggests that many
Arabs believe that the existence of the ghoul is a mere illusion. In
brief, rational interpretations of the fallacy of the ghoul verify that
many Arabs wanted to uncover the nature of this monster to enlighten the
people in order that they not be deceived by popular tales.

In addition to the classical description of the ghoul in Arabic
culture, there is another type of ghoul called shiqq. In the following
section, I will present an analytical discussion of this devilish beast
because of its importance in understanding the 'other side' of
the ghoul.

shiqq

Several Arabic sources referred to the shiqq or nasnas which
literally meant 'half' and 'only one half is
visible' (Marzolph & Leeuwen 2004, 535). In folktales, the
'person with half a body' and the 'one-sided man'
are well-known motifs (F525) and (F525.1) (Thompson 2002; El Shamy 2004,
163). In pre-Islamic Arabic accounts, there was the famous story of
'Allqumah Bin Safwan Bin Umayah al-Kinani who once rode a donkey
and went during a clear night to Mecca. He reached a place called
Yahuman (17) where he met the shiqq carrying a sword; however, they both
fell dead at the end of the fight (al-Qazwini 1980, 237; al-Dimiri 1978,
601-2; al-Jahiz 1969, 206-7; al-Zamakhshari 1976, 379-80). After Islam,
the shiqq remained alive in the minds of the people who believed in its
existence. For instance, al-Jahiz said that this creature was known to
be 'a kind of genie appearing to travelers to kill them either by
frightening them or by beating them' (1969, 206). However, the
shape of the shiqq was peculiar because it had only 'one eye, one
hand, and one leg'. al-Qazwini further clarified that the shiqq was
'a devilish creature which looked like a half human' (1980,
237). In the Arabian Nights, 'The Story of the Sage and the
Scholar' referred to nasnas, denoting that this was a common belief
held by Arab people.

In spite of the pre-Islamic origins of shiqq, Arab Bedouins held
this creature as part of their popular beliefs for many centuries since
Charles Montagu Doughty (1843-1926) referred in Travels in Arabia
Deserta (1888) to it. Doughty's traveling desert companion
mentioned that there was a genie type with 'horrible' looks;
'certain of them have but one eye in the midst of their faces'
(1964, 17). Doughty met an Arab Bedouin who swore that he saw a
'ghrol' or 'ghrul' in the desert and provided the
following description:

Doughty considered these tales ridiculous, saying that 'no
man, but Philemon, lived a day fewer for laughing' (1933, 53) at
such stories. Nevertheless, Hasan El-Shamy classified tens of Arab
folktales that belong to 327B (The Dwarf and the Giant) in which
Nuss-nusais (Half) and Hdaydun were the main characters (2004, 1001).
Also, motif (G415.1) 'Ogress poses as man's sister and invites
him to live in her house' (El-Shamy 2004, 1073) is similar to the
account mentioned above. Again, the legend of the half person has not
faded away in the popular imagination, though the one mentioned in
folktales is rather friendly and carries human features unlike the
devilish shiqq or nasnas. (19)

To sum up, the ghoul is very popular in the oral tales of Arab
Bedouins. As a proof, Western travelers who visited the Arab region in
the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries referred to this monster mainly
when they encountered the Bedouins. However, when Antoine Galland
translated the Arabian Nights in the eighteenth century, he claimed that
the ghoul mentioned was of Arabic origin (Al-Rawi 2009). The following
section discusses the way Galland changed perceptions of the ghoul in
the West by attributing it to the Arabic culture.

Galland's Contribution

In his translation of the Arabian Nights, Galland tried to give an
authentic rendition of the Arabic work, but he deviated several times by
deleting and adding many details. Among the details he introduced about
the ghoul, one can be found in volume 11 in 'The Story of Sidi
Nouman' (1798, 78-9). Galland mentioned that ghouls were male
monsters that in 'want of prey, will sometimes go in the night into
burying grounds, and feed upon dead bodies that have been buried
there' (1798, 81). In addition, he introduced the morbid character
of Amina. Though she was newly wed, Amina preferred to accompany the
ghouls in the graveyard at night. In the Arabic culture of the time, no
such character existed, which indicates the liberty this French
translator took in his translation (Al-Rawi 2009). According to the
Oxford English Dictionary, the word 'ghoul' nowadays means an
'evil spirit supposed (in Muslim countries) to rob graves and prey
on human corpses' (1989). This inaccuracy is clearly an effect of
Galland's translation, which was not a faithful rendition of the
Arabic original word (Al-Rawi 2009). Unfortunately, other works followed
Galland's new description of the ghoul without further inquiry. For
instance, the famous orientalist William Lane (1801-1876) suggested the
ghoul 'applied to any cannibal', as a creature that
'appear[ed] in the forms of various animals, and in many monstrous
shapes' so as to 'haunt burial-grounds and other sequestered
spots; [and]... feed upon dead human bodies' (1987, 42; 1860, 227).
This description corresponded with Galland's account. Lane did not
cite any Arabic reference to support his claim; instead, he referred to
Galland's translation of the Arabian Nights rather than original
Arabic sources. Lane also contradicted his own work because he never
described the ghoul in such a manner in his book An Arabic-English
Lexicon, in which numerous Arabic references were used (1980, 2311).
(20)

Furthermore, in his classification of Arab folktales, Hasan
El-Shamy mentioned motif G20 'Ghouls. Persons eat corpses' and
its subtypes by referring to Victor Chauvin (1995, vol. i, 144).
However, the latter only cited Galland's 'Sidi Nouman'
tale as evidence of his claim (1902, vol. vi, 198). As in Lane's
case, Chauvin and subsequently El-Shamy depended on Galland's
ghoul. Ultimately, Galland embellished the ghoul with a new feature that
became a standard description of this creature in the West.

In an attempt to investigate the origins of Galland's idea of
the ghoul that digs graves and eats corpses in Arabic sources, it is
necessary to compare his description with some Arabic references to a
certain animal that has similar characteristics. In old Arabic writings,
the only account similar to Galland's ghoul is found in the popular
description of the hyena. al-Dimiri (c. 1341-c.1404) mentions that
hyenas 'are fond of digging graves due to their great appetite for
eating human flesh' (21) (1978, vol. i, 641). Also, al-'Aisami
(? -c. 1699) cited anecdotal evidence of an event that occurred in Mecca
in 1667, in which a hyena-like animal came close to an ass, so some men
traced it. The animal ran to a nearby house and injured the woman living
there. As a result, the men killed the animal and called it
'ghoul' because they did not know what it was (2007, vol. iii,
51). This tale suggests the proximity with which people viewed the two
creatures. Furthermore, J. E. Hanauer documented several stories about
the superstitious beliefs in animals among Jews, Christians, and Muslims
during his journey to Palestine in the late 19th century. According to
the Arab belief, if the hyena is 'not content with digging up and
devouring dead bodies', it would 'often bewitch. the living
and lures them to [its] den', and it is believed to appear to
'the solitary wayfarer, rub against him endearingly and then run on
ahead'. According to Hanauer, this person becomes, 'instantly
bewitched' and would follow the hyena 'as fast as he can till
he gets into the beast's den and is devoured' (1907, 271). In
folktales, Muhawi and Kanaana believe that the hyena is
'traditionally linked with supernatural forces, its effect on human
beings being considered similar to that of possession by the jinn'
(1989, 43). Also, El-Shamy classifies motif (B14.5) 'Ghoul (ogre)
as hybrid of jinniyyah and hyena' (1995, 104) which corresponds
with the idea cited above. As the hyena is well known to eat carcasses
and produce some semi-human sounds like crying and laughter, it can be
easily confused with the ghoul. The above mentioned accounts are almost
identical with the description of Galland's ghoul since he could
have heard a similar account from Arab friend, Hanna Dhiyab who inspired
the orphan tales in the Arabian Nights, or read somewhere about the
belief in hyenas in the Arab world and applied such a description to the
ghoul. In Arabic culture, the ghoul is still alive, making its
appearance in its different spectrums and retaining its old features, as
discussed below.

The Ghoul Today

The belief in the mythical ghoul is still widely spread in the Arab
world up to this day, particularly among elderly people. In almost all
Arab countries, the ghoul is viewed as a monster that eats human beings
and is used as a means of instilling fear inside children's hearts.
Many modern stories rewritten and adapted from old Arabic folktales deal
with this monster, whose description resembles the one mentioned in this
work. For example, the Palestinian writer, Amil abibi, published a story
called Saraya Bint al-Ghoul dealing with a girl called Saraya who was
kidnapped by a ghoul and was imprisoned in his palace. Later, her cousin
searched for her and man aged to rescue her (Motif G0440.1 'ogre
abducts woman (maiden)' and motif G0500 'Ogre defeated')
(El-Shamy 2004, 1073 & 1074). Another Palestinian, Jamil al-Salhut,
published a story for children called al-Ghoul portraying a small girl
called Khadijah who dreamt of the ghoul after hearing its horrible
description from her grandmother, so she urinated while asleep due to
her excessive fear. When she narrated the dream to her teacher at
school, the grandmother was criticized for narrating such old legends.
Furthermore, the famous Egyptian film actor 'Adil Imam starred in
al-Ghoul (1981) in which he appeared as a journalist trying to discover
the truth about a fearful and cruel tycoon who harmed people and
exploited them. The ghoul in this film referred to a hideous person due
to his ugly behavior, as is the case in old Arabic proverbs. In the
following section, a more empirical discussion of the ghoul is made in
an attempt to understand how this creature came to exist in Arab
people's lives.

Alternate Account

In view of the details given earlier, ghouls can merely be real
human beings carrying birth defects. The mouth of the ghoul is believed
to have the shape of a cat's, or what is now medically called a
'cleft lip' and 'cleft palate'. In addition, a ghoul
is thought to have deformed legs or hands that look like that of an ass
which is medically called 'ankylodactylia', and it has hair
covering a great deal of its body. In fact, many children around the
world are born with such defects every year due to environmental factors
and genetic flaws (Carinci et al. 2007, 2). If one takes into account
the fact that pregnant women in the desert lack basic nutritious food
and that Arabs, until this very day, commonly practice intermarriage
within their tribes over many generations, one can conclude that the
ghoul is a child with serious birth defects. After giving birth, the
mother might be forced to part with her child due to his/her congenital
birth deformities. As a result, the child would be ostracized from
his/her tribe and would seek the desert as a refuge because
superstitions played an important role in the lives of Arabs before
Islam. (22) Hence, the Arabic stories that mentioned a marriage taking
place between a human being and a si'alwah can be true in view of
the above mentioned assumption. In brief, the ghoul could be a real
human being born with severe birth defects, compelling him/her to reside
in the wilderness to avoid other humans who would naturally loathe and
fear horrendous and ugly creatures.

Conclusion

The mythical ghoul of Arabia has preoccupied the Arabs for several
centuries and will certainly remain a source of inspiration for some
writers and a cause of fear for many children. One of the main reasons
behind its fearful character is its mysterious nature since there is no
unified agreement about its features; the ghoul is thought to be a kind
of devil, genie, enchantress of genies, devilish genie, and spirit.
However, most accounts mention this monster as an ugly and harmful
female creature. In all cases, the belief in such a supernatural being
is still solid mainly among uneducated people who are plagued by
ghoulish tales from their early childhood until their death. What is
striking is that the ghoul refuses to fade away from the imagination of
some people regardless of the great passage of time and the various
cultures and religions it has encountered.

Responses

Aref Abu-Rabia

Ben-Gurion University

Israel

This article will contribute significantly to the study of the Arab
culture and will be of immeasurable value to scholars in the fields of
folklore, sociology and anthropology. It is an overall understanding of
the ghoul and traces its evolution from the past to modern times in an
attempt to give an idea of how and why its concept changed from one
culture to another. The article adeptly deals with mythical figure of
the ghoul in Arab cultural and literary life since the Jahiliyya until
the modern period. The author correctly maintains that this mythical
figure will certainly remain a source of inspiration for some writers
and a cause of fear for many children (and adults). I would like to
stress here that even modernist and avant-garde Arab writers utilized
(and indeed, still utilize) the ghoul in their literary and poetic works
in order to convey their political and social message in a hidden and
sophisticated manner.

This is brilliantly evident in the writings of the prominent
Palestinian novelist, Emil Habibi (1922-1996), in which the collective
Palestinian culture is inscribed as much in the naturalistic account of
mundane events as in the flight into fantasy and imagination. In his
Saraya bint al-Ghoul (Saraya the Ghoul's Daughter, 1992), an
impressionistic semi-autobiography, Habibi evokes the image of the
Palestinian fairy-tale heroine Saraya, a mystical figure which
captivates the narrator imagination. His quest takes him into Arab myth,
his own personal past and the collective psyche of the Palestinians. By
using a network of inter-textual references to the image of the Ghoul in
Arabic culture, Saraya becomes an allegory to the lost Palestinian
identity and the author's yearning to his childhood.

Indeed, the article's conclusion that the ghoul refuses to
fade away from the imagination of some people regardless of the great
passage of time finds in Habibi's (and other Arab writers')
literary works a striking validation.

According to popular belief in the Middle East, the ghouls
approaches men, women and adult children and then kill them. One of the
arguments, in this paper is that Islam could not change all the old
beliefs of Arabs when one thinks of the ghoul. Although Prophet Muhammad
mentioned the ghoul in several of his sayings, but later Muslim scholars
had conflicting views about the authenticity of these sayings as some
negated the ghoul's existence and others confirmed it. At any case,
Arabs are practicing some methods in order to ward off the ghoul: one
should say loudly the name of God- Allah, or bism Allah al-Raman
al-Rahim. It is worth noting that the Qur'an refers to the
attributes of God as God's "most beautiful names"
(al-asma' al-husna), they are traditionally enumerated as 99 in
number. Some of the folk say phrases from the Holy Quran, mainly ayat
al-Kursi:

"Allah! There is no god but He, the Living, the
Self-subsisting, Eternal. No slumber can seize Him nor sleep. His are
all things in the heavens and on earth. Who is there can intercede in
His presence except as He permitteth? He knoweth what (appeareth to His
creatures as) before or after or Behind them. Nor shall they compass
aught of His knowledge except as He willeth. His Throne doth extend over
the heavens and the earth, and He feeleth no fatigue in guarding and
preserving them for He is the Most High, the Supreme (in glory)"
(Quran 2:255).

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Doctrinal Islam and Folk Islam

Amira El-Zein

Georgetown University

USA

Ahmed al-Rawi argues at the beginning of his article that
"Because Islam incorporated this being in its doctrine, the ghoul
remained a source of fear and mystery in the Arab culture". Al-Rawi
erects his whole article on the basis of incorrect contention for which
he fails to provide any support.

To be "incorporated... in its doctrine" as the author
claims, the ghoul should have been mentioned in the official source of
Islam, the Qur'an. This is not the case. The jinn and two of their
sub-species, namely marid and ifrit, are the only kinds of spiritual
entities mentioned in the Qur'an. Thus, although the belief in the
concept of the jinn is not one of the five tenets of Islam, Islamic
doctrine requires belief in their existence. This, however, is not the
case for the ghoul.

As for the Hadith (the Prophet's acts and sayings), those that
pertain to the ghoul are problematic and unreliable, which the author
acknowledges. Also, the Hadith is not sacred in the same way as the
Qur'an. The latter is the Word of God per se for Muslims, but the
Hadith is not. It remains the words of a human being, even if that human
being is a prophet. The only thing that is truly central in the faith of
a Muslim is the belief in the words of the Qur'an. Thus, if the
ghoul is not mentioned in the Qur'an and the references in the
Hadith are questionable and contradictory, how can it be considered
doctrine?

This misapprehension is a result of the author's greater
confusion between Arabic folklore and Islamic doctrine. The ghoul
belongs to Arabic folklore, both Muslim and Christian, and thus is not
specific to either doctrinal Islam or Islamic culture in general. A lot
of the medieval Arabic sources that the author mentions are simply
compendiums of anecdotes, stories, and citations from previous sources.
They do not belong to folk Islam per se, but neither do they belong to
doctrinal Islam.

Furthermore, al-Rawi misinterprets the most important text of
Arabic folklore, namely, the Arabian Nights. Let me offer the following
four points. First, he refers to Silvestre de Sacy to contend that
"there are Islamic elements in the composition of the Arabian
Nights". But since Nights was written in the Islamic empire between
the ninth and eighteenth centuries, it is a truism to assert that they
contain Islamic elements and that they have "elements going back to
medieval times," as the author writes.

Second, the author should have used more recent scholarship to
confirm the Islamic identity of the Arabian Nights rather than depending
on the opinions of Europeans, such as Silvestre de Sacy, who wrote
centuries ago. Along the same lines, one wonders why the he didn't
use the more recent translation of the Nights by Husain Haddawy (1990)
instead of the outdated translation by Richard Burton (1886-1888)?

In fact, al-Rawi's article is filled with references to the
Orientalist corpus in cluding works by Richard Burton, Antoine Galland,
and Silvestre de Sacy. Instead of revisiting or questioning the
Orientalists' contentions on ghouls, however, he simply takes them
for granted, and even follows in their footsteps. As a third point, I
would like to closely follow al-Rawi's text to illustrate some of
the ways in which it simply re-hashes Orientalist views. To begin the
section entitled "Arabic Culture" he writes:

When Antoine Galland (1646-1715) first translated the Arabian
Nights into a European language, he mentioned in the preface that the
stories 'must be pleasing, because of the account they give of the
Customs and Manners of the Eastern Nations' (1718,
'Preface').

Here, the author accepts Galland's assertions without probing
them. Is it true that the Nights' stories give an "account...
of the Customs and Manners of the Eastern Nations"? (ibid).
Shouldn't al-Rawi scrutinize Galland's assumptions? How could
these folk tales be representative of the manners and customs of various
whole nations? Isn't Galland generalizing about the East? What did
Galland know about the customs and manners of the East? He never
traveled to any Arab country. It was from his desk in Paris that he
wrote about the East. His only contact was an Arab Christian from Aleppo
who happened to be in Paris at that time.

Al-Rawi, however, is not satisfied with just one example form the
Orientalist corpus. After Galland he cites Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, de
Sacy and Burton all of whom, he believes, were accurate in their
interpretations of Arab superstitions.

He seems to be unaware of the dangers of accepting the opinions of
others without scrutinizing them. He seems to completely ignore the
groundbreaking work of the late Edward Said, precisely entitled
Orientalism (1978), which has forcefully demonstrated how the same
Orientalist writers that al-Rawi cites in his article created a
hegemonic discourse that de-valued rich and fundamental cultures,
peoples, and religions into an array of demeaning stereotypes.

His incorporation of these sources is not superficial; it is an
outgrowth of his basic methodology. Throughout the article al-Rawi
proceeds in a similar manner, first citing a Western source and then
compiling anecdotes from Arabic sources in order to prove that the
Western source is correct. This lack of a critical stance toward sources
is rife throughout the piece. For example, he writes:

But Holt and Katherine's assertion deserves some analysis. Is
it true that Islam couldn't change old customs and thus integrate
them? Most importantly, why did Islam keep some of these customs and
reject others? What are the arguments used by these two scholars to
convince us that Islam integrated the ghoul in its beliefs? What are the
sources they used to back up their thesis? In keeping with his flawed
methodology, the al-Rawi again merely cites a few stories from the
Arabic corpus and then quickly concludes that, "As mentioned
earlier, Holt and Katherine's argument that Islam could not change
all the old beliefs of Arabia is valid in the case of belief in the
ghoul".

Fourth, in addition to al-Rawi's uncritical acceptance of
Western sources, he also asserts that, "The following tale further
suggests the link between factual written accounts and fictional
tales". But, this statement shows a misunderstanding of folkloric
texts, such as the Nights, which went through a lot of variation during
their circulation. It is almost impossible to say that a tale
"suggests a link between factual written account and fictional
tales" because the tales of the Nights were written over a period
of almost eight centuries and kept changing form and content until
printing appeared in the Arab world. The tales of the Nights were
transformed through time by the narrative oral act and thus could not
possibly accurately reflect factual accounts.

--. 1886-1888. A Plain and Literal Translation of the Arabian
Nights' Entertainment, Now Entituled The Book of The Thousand
Nights And A Night; with Notes Anthropological and Explanatory. London:
The Burton Club.

Eberly, Susan Schoon. 1991. Fairies and the Folklore of Disability:
Changelings, Hybrids, and the Solitary Fairy. In The Good People: New
Fairylore Essays. Peter Narvaez (ed.). Kentucky: The University Press of
Kentucky: 227-50.

Galland, Antoine, trans. 1718. Arabian nights entertainments:
consisting of one thousand and one stories told by the Sultaness of the
Indies,... Translated into French from the Arabian MSS. by M.
Galland,... And now done into English. vol. i. 5th ed. London: Andrew
Bell.

--. trans. 1798. Arabian nights entertainments: consisting of one
thousand and one stories told by the Sultaness of the Indies,...
Translated into French from the Arabian MSS. by M. Galland... and now
done into English from the last Paris edition, vol. 4. Montrose: D.
Buchanan, sold by him and Bell & Bradfute Edinr. W. Coke Leith; Ja.
& A. Duncan and J. Gillies Glasgow.

(1.) There are plenty of Arabic words whose origins are derived
from the old languages of Mesopotamia. For instance, the Arabic word
'harem' that is associated with women stems from the Akkadian
word 'Harimtu' which means 'sacred prostitute dedicated
to the godhead' The ending 'u' is usual in such an old
language that was deleted in Arabic. As for Ghoul, the Arabic root of
the word is 'ghal' which means 'kill'; hence, the
Akkadian word 'Gallu' explains the etymological connection.

(2.) According to Ibn Durayd (838-933), the Qutrub is the male
ghoul (1987, 1121).

(3.) The Marid is a type of a devil whose name means
'rebel' because it has rebelled against God (al-Zubaydi 1998,
165).

(4.) For the detailed meaning of hamah, see note (11).

(5.) The Holy Quran contains a verse that describes the devils
eavesdropping on Heaven in order to overhear God's angels; thus,
meteors are thrown at them (al-Safat (7-10) 446).

(6.) The most famous story was that of the Arab poet Thabit Bin
Jabir Bin Sufyan or Ta'abbatah Sharran who saw a ghoul in the shape
of a ram (al-Isfahani 1983, 144). For more details, see Ahmed K.
Al-Rawi's 'The Arabic Ghoul and its Western
Transformation', Folklore, Vol. 120, Issue 3 (December 2009):
291-306.

(7.) The two words are used interchangeably to refer to the same
creature; however, the si'lwah or si'lah is always feminine.

(8.) The Western beliefs in the spirits of the wilderness, Joan the
Wad, Jack o' the lantern, and will-o'-the-wisp are similar to
the description of this ghoul.

(9.) 'adwa or infection here means transmission of diseases.
Before Islam, Arabs thought that the mythical animal sifr could be
transmitted like a disease from one person to another (al-Nawawi 1971,
vol. xiv, 215; 'Abdulwahab n.d., 373). The other interpretation,
according to al-Nawawi, was that the Prophet stressed that diseases
could not be transmitted to other people without God's will (1971,
vol. vi, 325).

(10.) Arabs before Islam used to believe in tatayur or portents. If
any traveler attempts to leave somewhere, he/she has to check the signs
by letting a bird fly before the journey takes place. If it goes to the
right side, it is a good herald, whereas the left side is a bad omen, so
the traveler must postpone the whole trip.

(11.) Before Islam, Arabs believed that the predatory bird hamah or
the owl had a very bad omen. If such a bird dies near someone's
house, the house's owner should expect that one of the residents
will die. In addition, Arabs believed that the bones of the deceased or
their souls would turn later into predatory birds as one way of
incarnation; as a result, the Prophet emphasized the falsity of the
mythical basis of such a belief (al-Nawawi 1971, vol. xiv, 215;
al-Maliki 1994, 342; 'Abdulwahab n.d., 378; al-Dimiri 1978, vol. i,
226). Until this day, the owl is viewed as a bad omen by many Arabs. In
addition, the hamah was believed to be a worm leaving a man's skull
if he was killed without being avenged. It would circle around the
man's tomb saying: 'water me', asking for vengeance. Jews
in Arabia used to think that the hamah would circle round a man's
tomb for seven days before departing ('Abdulwahab n.d., 379). Hasan
El-Shamy assigns for the hamah motif (E0451.9.1) 'hamah ceases to
appear when revenge is accomplished' and motif (E0473.2)
'ghost of murdered person in owl-form that cries for revenge'
(2008, 114), but he classifies the hamah as part of the 'Soul'
or 'Self' section instead of being a subheading of
'Zoological Supernatural Beings' since the hamah was believed
to be an animal-like creature.

(12.) banu meant pain in the stomach that could infect other people
(al-Tamimi 1967, 199; al-Sajistani n.d., 520), and sometimes it would
infect livestock cattle ('Abdulwahab n.d., 379). Furthermore, it
was believed to be the other name of sifr, which was one of the months
in the Islamic calendar. Though Arabs believed that there were sacred
months during which fighting was prohibited, some used to change the
rules of war each year. They would sanction the war once but might allow
it the next year according to their interests. The Prophet banned this
practice (al-Tamimi, 197-8). In addition, al-Sajistani mentioned a third
explanation of the word 'banu' saying that Arabs used to
regard sifr as an ill-omened month and the Prophet corrected that view
(n.d., 18).

(13.) Abu Sadat al-Jazri (c.1149 -c.1209) mentioned that sifr was a
kind of a serpent that inhabited the stomach and used to sting a man
when he felt hungry (1979, 35). In this way, Arabs explained hunger
pangs as sifr stinging them. In folktales, El-Shamy classifies a similar
motif (G328.1) as a 'serpent inside man's body eats all his
food' (1995, 148). In fact, sifr can be simply a tapeworm, a kind
of helminthiasis, that usually infects, due to contaminated water or
food, the digestive tracts of human beings, wherein it grows rapidly and
reaches sometimes several meters in size.

(14.) naw' was the old belief that meteors or 'falling
stars' would certainly bring rain. The Prophet emphasized that the
falling stars had no effect, but it was God's will that could bring
rain and generate the wind (al-Tabari 1984, 208).

(15.) Other Muslim scholars believed that prophet Muhammed did not
negate the existence of ghouls; instead, he only said that they had no
power to change their shapes (al-Kufi 1988, 311; al-Nawawi 1971, vol.
xiv, 217; al-Siuti 1996, 239; al-'Asqalani 1959, 159;
al-'Abbadi 1994, 292). al-Burrusi (?- c.1918) elaborated by saying
that ghouls could not delude people or change their visages, but the
enchantresses of genies, the si'lwah, could if it encountered
genies (1911, vol. iv, 450).

(16.) In Myths of Babylonia and Assyria, Donald A. Mackenzie
described the widespread belief in Babylonia that some sick people were
thought to be possessed by a devilish creature. 'It had therefore
to be expelled by performing a magical ceremony and repeating a magical
formula. The demon was either driven or enticed away' (1910, 234).

(17.) al-Jahiz said that the place was called azman wall instead of
Yahuman.

(18.) al-Qazwini referred to another devilish creature called
Dilhdb that appeared in the shape of a human riding on an ostrich. It
lived in sea islands and ate outcasts who were driven by the sea after
being shipwrecked. Also, it was reputed to have a shrill cry that would
make any person faint upon hearing it (1980, 237).

(19.) Surprisingly, the Swiss psychologist Carl G. Jung (1875-1961)
reported during the summer of 1920 that while he was staying in an old
farmhouse in Buckinghamshire that he saw a weird creature appearing,
particularly at night. Aside from the other descriptions given, Jung
stated: '[I] opened my eyes. There, beside me on the pillow, I saw
the head of an old woman, and the right eye, wide open, glared at me.
The left half of the face was missing below the eye. The sight of it was
so sudden and unexpected that I leapt out of bed with one bound, lit the
candle, and spent the rest of the night in an armchair' (1977,
323-4). Similar to al-Jahiz and Burton's explanations of the
ghoul's existence, Jung interpreted this apparition as a
hallucinatory experience due to exhaustion, fear, and recalling memories
of a particular lady. Jung commented on the sounds he heard in the room
saying that they were 'probably not objective noises, but noises in
the ear which seemed to me occurring objectively in the room. In my
peculiar hypnoid state, they appeared exaggeratedly loud... My torpor
was associated with an inner excitation probably corresponding to
fear' (1977, 325).

(20.) Lane referred in Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians
and Arabian Society in the Middle Ages to the Arabs' superstitious
belief in 'Ghools', 'Sealah', or 'Saalah'
and said that there was no foundation in their belief. In a chapter
called 'Demonology' in Arabian Society, Lane said at the end:
'I must beg the reader to remark that the superstitious fancies
which it describes are prevalent among all classes of the Arabs, and the
Muslims in general, learned as well as vulgar' (1987, 46).
Lane's observation could be partly right because he wrote his works
at a time when the majority of the people were uneducated, and the
Bedouins' tribal customs and beliefs were widely spread in the
society due to many centuries of regression.

(21.) al-Dimiri further says that Arabs make comparisons between
humans and hyenas to refer to 'an ugly looking woman from debased
origins or an old witch' (1978, 644).

(22.) In medieval Europe, a child born with mental or physical
disorder was mainly 'viewed as evil'. For instance, when
Martin Luther heard about such a child, he recommended that he 'be
disposed of by drowning' (Eberly 1991, 228 & 231). In a recent
medical study conducted on Nigerian women giving birth to children
suffering from cleft lips and palate, seven out of sixteen women
interviewed from the Yoruba ethnic group believed that 'evil
spirits' were behind their children birth defects. Eight of those
women considered spiritual healing the only method of treatment (Olasoji
et al. 2007, 304).

[It had] 'a cyclops' eye set in the midst
of her human-like head, long beak
of jaws, in the ends one or two great
sharp tusks, long neck; her arms like
chicken' fledgling wings, the fingers
of her hands not divided; the body
big as a camel's, but in shape as the
ostrich; (18) the sex is only feminine, she
has a foot as the ass' hoof, and a foot
as an ostrich. She entices passengers,
calling to them over the waste by their
names, so that they think it is their
own mother's or their sister's voice....
(1933, 53)

Peter M. Holt and Ann Katherine argue
in The Cambridge History of Islam
that Islam came about as a 'revolt'
and as a 'protest against' the old
Arabs' beliefs, but that it could not
change all their existing convictions.
Instead, it 'integrated' some old practices
like the yearly pilgrimage to
Mecca (1997, 17). This study argues
that Islam could not change the belief
in supernatural beings such as genies
and ghouls, because they were an integral
part of Arab culture.